A Fairfax elementary student might soon see her artwork on Google’s homepage.
Google announced today (Wednesday) that Arya Pribadi, a student at Greenbriar West Elementary School in Chantilly, has been named a finalist in its “Doodle for Google” contest. Her drawing, which depicts a family of four celebrating the COVID-19 vaccine, was selected from tens of thousands of K-12 student submissions nationwide.
Her artwork will now be judged alongside 54 other finalists from each U.S. state and territory, including D.C. The winner’s artwork will be displayed on Google.com for 24 hours sometime in June.
Coinciding with Google’s 25th anniversary, the contest challenged students to depict their vision for the theme “My wish for the next 25 years” through art.
“Given the challenging nature of the past few years, we were really inspired to see the many ways students have been facing the opportunities and challenges that the future brings,” Doodle Product Marketing Manager Selly Sallah said in a press release.
According to the release, submissions featured themes such as safer communities, technological advancements, environmental well-being, and global unity.
This year, instead of age group winners, category winners will be announced. Each winner’s artwork will be featured on the Doodle for Google site. The categories are below.
- Planet Award — For a Doodle that honors the planet and focuses on sustainability.
- Good Neighbor Award — For the Doodle that dreams big and centers its wish around the local community.
- Imagination Award — For the out-of-this-world, mind-blowing Doodle.
- Biggest Smile Award — For the most contagiously funny and playful Doodle.
- Tech Wiz Award — For a Doodle that highlights how technology can positively influence the world.
“My wish for the next 25 years is that nobody gets sick and that there are vaccines for every sickness there is,” Pribadi said in the release. “To represent that, I drew a shot with two germs with four family members saying how happy they are that me, my family, and everyone doesn’t get sick.”
From now until June 4, the public can vote for their favorite drawing.
In addition to having their artwork displayed on Google’s homepage, the winner will receive a $55,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 technology package for their school or nonprofit organization, Google swag, and a trophy, per the release.
